


Since You Came Around

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Sick Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 04:51:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12904455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: pillarspromptsweekly #14; Sick Day. This is set not too long after Third Time’s the Charm, but before The Right Call. Title from ‘Better Place’ by Rachel Platten





	Since You Came Around

**Author's Note:**

> pillarspromptsweekly #14; Sick Day. This is set not too long after Third Time’s the Charm, but before The Right Call. Title from ‘Better Place’ by Rachel Platten

 

It was a recipe for disaster and she _really_ should have seen it coming. Most normal (sane) people would have taken one look at the bridge, clearly fallen into disrepair, and thought to themselves, _Maybe I should try to cross the fast-moving and icy river somewhere else_.

Not Tavi. (But then, when had she _ever_ claimed to be normal?) Tavi who was in a hurry, Tavi who just wanted to (try to) sleep, barely _noticed_ the bridge’s ramshackle state before her boots hit the wood. Today had been shitty, her mood was shitty as a result, and she was only half-listening to her companions’ chatter.  So of _course_ , she missed Aloth and Sagani’s muttered concerns about the bridge’s structural integrity. Of _course_ she didn’t hear the wood groan like a dying man under Kana’s feet. Of _course_ she was was oblivious until mildewed and rotting boards snapped and Aloth dropped from behind her before she even had time to react.

 _Oh, **fuck,** no,_ flashed through her mind as Tavi shrugged off her pack and went after him. She’d be damned if she let anyone--especially him--be the one to pay for her stupendous lack of foresight. (And wasn’t it funny how damn _quickly_ Aloth had moved into a category all his own after their talk?)

But she was hitting the water’s surface and _Effigysfuckineyes_ it was _**cold**_. It was all Tavi could do not to gasp in a mouthful of water and keep her focus on saving Aloth rather than the cold. Thanks to the near-exhale, she was forced to surface quickly. At least while she was raking hair out of her eyes she caught sight of him. Just out of arm’s reach, of course. Even when she hollered his name and both strained toward contact, their fingers remained inches from touching. Tavi kicked harder, willing herself forward against the drag of her armor (heavy leather rather than chain, but still added weight). She was _**not**_ going to lose him, not like this, not to what amounted to her own stupidity.

Even as she struggled to catch up, Aloth grabbed something--a branch, discarded fisher’s nets, she could tell--that tore free in his grasp but did slow him a crucial second that allowed their hands to meet. Each gripped the other’s wrist with a strength born of desperation and adrenaline. Now that she’d caught him, Tavi’s attention turned to scanning for a way back to shore, trusting Aloth to watch for hazards in the water.

“Tavi!!” Kana’s shout barely reached her over the roar of the current, but she could see him on the bank, running toward a downstream rocky outcropping. The intent was clear enough without words. Tavi tugged Aloth arm so he’d look at her and then pointed toward Kana. Gods, her feet felt like lead. What she _could_ feel, at least. Aloth nodded understanding, then frowned in concern. That was weird, Tavi thought as they angled toward Kana. He was the one who fell in, the one whose lips were _fucking_ blue with cold.

The swiftness of the current ensured both elves got dunked under at least twice more before Kana--with Pallegina’s help--fished them out. Sagani and Hiravias were waiting with blankets Even if the weather today wasn’t particularly cold, the water had been. Tavi was shaking violently as Hiravias pulled the blanket around her, deliberately tugging it up over her head as well.

“Can’t save the world if you’re buried under six feet of it,” he informed her frankly, and Tavi tried to chuckle.

It came out more like a cough. “Thanks.” She coughed again. (When did she swallow all that water?) “You alright, city slicker?”

“For the most part,” Aloth replied. He looked--and sounded--as cold as she felt.

“And f-for the rest of it?” she prodded, working a hand out from under the blanket. Her fingernails were almost the same blue as his lips.

“Cold. Wet. Nothing that can’t be remedied,” he assured her.

“On that note, I’m gonna start a fire,” Sagani piped up. “Faster we get you two dried out, less risk of you gettin’ sick.”

“I never get sick,” Tavi retorted, drying her face on the blanket as they all trooped away from the river.

x*X*x

She got sick. It started as just a tickle in her throat and mild sniffles. She managed to hide it from almost everyone. And Aloth promised not to rat her out unless it got worse.

Turned out, he didn’t need to. When it got worse (of course it got worse), she sneezed (thrice, and loudly) in the middle of what was supposed to be a stealthy job. They had to fight several bodyguards and one very pissed off--not to mention _devious_ \--druid. Hiravias almost lost his other ear, Pallegina did lose a few feathers, and it was only thanks to some very good timing on Kana’s part that they walked away alive and mostly unscathed. Close as they were to Caed Nua, the rest of the party overruled Tavi’s protests that she was fine and they went home.

Secretly, she was more than a little relieved. She was tired, her fingers and toes hadn’t felt warm enough since the river, and her head ached like someone had dropped a building on it. She made sure to voice a few token protests, but between her croaky voice and the lack of vehemence she was pretty sure Sagani and Aloth at the very least weren’t buying it. Still, Sagani followed her to her room, helped Tavi out of her armor, and waited until she was sure the grumbling elf was actually in bed to leave. If she wasn’t so damn tired, Tavi would have complained about Sagani treating her like a child and not fucking trusting her, but she was. So _fucking_ tired. So, instead, she instead, she closed her eyes, pulled the covers up to her chin, and went to sleep.

x*X*x

It was all well and fine until the dreams hit with a vengeance; events of several different lives blending and blurring together like a kaleidoscope. She rocketed from visions of the robed man she’d seen at Cilant Lîs to a runaway slave hiding from the master’s dogs, to someone waiting with murder in their heart, her consciousness never staying long before it flitted to the next in a decidedly disorienting manner. Until it landed behind the eyes of an aumaua clinging to a cliff by her ( _her?_ her) fingernails, grip slowly sliding off the muddy rocks. 

 _No, no, no, not heights._ Tavi honestly couldn’t tell if the thought belonged to her or the aumaua, which somehow made it worse. She clung to the rock face, feet desperately searching for purchase as pain lanced through her fingers, to no avail. A scream tore its way out of her throat as she lost her grip and plummeted toward the sea below.

x*X*x

“Tavi! Tavi, it’s alright!” Something closed around her wrist, gentle but firm. Still half-asleep, she tried to jerk away. “Tavi, you’re _safe_!”

That did it, woke her up the rest of the way. She was a feverish, disheveled mess, but she was awake. “Shit...” she muttered under her breath.

“Are you alright?” It was Aloth, of course. Aloth’s voice, Aloth’s hand on her arm that pulled her back to reality, Aloth looking at her with concerned blue eyes.

“..Yeah.” She waited a beat for her breathing to slow and nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She looked at him and winced. “Shit, city slicker, did I do that?”

Aloth shook his head as Tavi reached out to brush her fingers over the red welt along his cheekbone. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Normally she would’ve pressed further, but the adrenaline of waking from what was essentially a nightmare was fading, rapidly replaced with the lethargy of illness. So she worried about something else instead. “How long did I sleep?”

“Almost a full day, so far,” Aloth said, returning to his nearby chair. (It was the one from her desk, dragged over to be within arm’s reach of the bed) “If I may, you look like you could use more.”

“I probably could,” she muttered, snuggling back into her nest of blankets and pillows. _But that’s not happening anytime soon..._ “Where’s... everyone?”

He smiled slightly. “Sagani took your list of tasks and less urgent things we were doing for people and divided them up. So we can still get some things accomplished and you don’t feel so bad about being out of commission.”

Tavi snorted, which made her cough. “She knows me so well. And why are you _here_ rather than helping with that?”

Aloth fidgeted with one of his rings and looked out the window. “She asked me if I would be able to focus, and.... I wasn’t able to honestly say yes. So she had Keya go with her and Kana instead.Told me to stay here and not worry too much.”

“From the look of your nails, you haven’t been doin’ well with that last part,” she croaked teasingly, and Aloth reflexively ran his thumb over the chewed-down edges.

“It’s not that easy to change part of someone’s nature,” he said softly.

“Don’t I fucking know it,” Tavi mumbled, rubbing her eyes. “It is kinda nice to have you worryin’ about me, though,” she admitted. “‘Zat why you’re hovering?”

Aloth gave a soft half-laugh as he followed her gaze to the large book and empty teacup sitting on the desk. “You caught me.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Aloth, you know this is just a cold, right?”

“I believe the herbalist said it was more of a fever...”

“Same difference,” she waved off his correction as she pushed herself upright to better meet his gaze. “My _point_ is; you’ve seen me survive a fuckin’ broadaxe to the chest, so I’m just a little confused why you’re camp-by-my-fuckin’-bedside worried about a silly little cold-”

“Fever.”

“Whatever.” Tavi raked sweaty hair back from her face. “I know _you_ know I’m gonna be fine, so, much as I appreciate your company--and not havin’ to yell for a servant if I need somethin’--I just... why?” That was the limit of her articulateness with her head aching like it was.

“It’s not... worry.” Aloth didn’t elaborate for a long moment, gaze on his hands as he spun the silver band that encircled his left index finger. Tavi waited him out (what else did she have to do?) until finally, softly, “It was my fault.”

“Bullshit,” she snorted with as much vehemence as she could muster. “How in the _copperfucking_ Hel is it _your_ fault?!”

His shoulders hunched and hands stilled. “You came in after me.”

“Yeah, and you fell in in the fuckin’ first place because I was a shithead idiot who couldn’t take five fuckin’ seconds to check that the bridge was sturdy enough to hold our weight before I started across it. And I’m the one who chose to dive in after you rather than do more like Kana and the others so I didn’t get soaking wet. My being sick is in _no way_ your fault.”

“But-”

“Look, Aloth.” She shifted in the bed until she was close enough to take his hands in hers. “I’ve been through a lot of shit in my life. I’ve come to terms with the worst of it, gotten really good at being stubborn-” she caught the brief twist of his lips into a smirk- “and learned to deal with it as it comes. But now, even with the Awakened soul and the Watcher shit and everything...” she hesitated, bit her lip. “My life’s been better since you came into it. And I.. I don’t want to lose you.” The vulnerability of the words felt strangely good. 

Aloth nodded understanding, lightly squeezing her hands. “Keep in mind,” he began quietly, “I could say much the same.”

Tavi tilted her head and giggled. “Did you just _Ditto_ me again, Corfiser?”

“I did, yes,” Aloth confirmed, smile of his own tugging at his lips. “For a woman who claims to be shit with words, you are rather eloquent at times.”

“Blame the cold,” she grinned.

“ _Fever,_ ” he corrected again.

“Whatever.” She released his hands and lay back down. “It gave me a sudden burst of inspiration or something.”

Aloth helped her pull the blankets back up and get comfortable. “Ah, I see. Illness makes you eloquent.”

She laughed at the gentle teasing. “Somethin’ like that.” She yawned and rolled on her side so she was facing him, sleepily mumbling, “Stay with me?”

He smiled and scooted his chair closer to the bed. “Always.”


End file.
